92 



HISTORY AND METHODS OP THE FISHERIES. 



like success, were fitted out for the same place. But, for some reason or other, the fish were not 

 caught in very extravagant quantities, and a fall in the price of the fish rendered such a long trip 

 financially rather uncertain; Besides, as there was no reliable chart of Davis' Strait and the coast 

 of Greenland, the fishermen hesitated considerably before undertaking a voyage to such a precipi- 

 tous and barren coast, and no one can blame them. Once give them a good chart of the coast and 

 harbors of Western Greenland, and their greatest difficulty will be removed. No reliable survey 

 and chart of Greenland have been made. 



Notwithstanding the need of large and accurate charts and the immense distance of two thou- 

 sand miles, so great are the probabilities of making a profitable catch that thirty-one trips have been 

 made from Gloucester to Davis' Strait after halibut. The following is a tabulated statement of the 

 vessels and captains engaged in the Greenland fishery from its beginning to the present time, show- 

 ing also the year and the weight of flitches for each trip. This gives a total of 3,283,765 pounds 

 of salt halibut brought to Gloucester from Greenland, or an average of 113,233 pounds for the 

 vessels that returned in safety : 



Two vessels were lost ; but one of th ese, the Cunard, after starting for home, went to the Grand 

 Bank and was lost there, leaving only one lost in the Greenland fishery. The Eiver Queen prob- 

 ably failed to reach home because too little care had been taken in properly arranging the salted 

 fish, thus throwing the vessel considerably out of trim. The last seen of her she was rather low 

 in the bow and sailing before a northeast gale, on her way home. 



If we compare the Davis' Strait fishery with that of the Grand Bank we find much in its 



